Little J feels lucky when he wears a new pair of yellow undies. After Old Dog destroys them, he loses his confidence. Big Cuz saves the day with the remnants of the undies made into a sweat band, and Little J finds confidence to play the basketball game and win the day.

Explain - Draw simple conclusions based on discussions, observations and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps

Theme - SUPERSTITIONS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, episode 1, ‘Lucky Undies’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of Little J’s sense of luck and superstition.

As a class, discuss how and why Little J becomes superstitious when he believes his yellow undies are ‘lucky’.

Introduce the concept of ‘superstition’ and develop a shared understanding of what the term means. Explain that every culture has specific superstitions based on traditional stories, proverbs, fables and ‘old wives’ tales’. Explore the colloquial terms associated with superstitions: adage, proverb, fable, old wives’ tales’, ‘tall tales’, etc. Suggested resource for supporting language development: Rhyme zone

View a map of the world and have students identify and list different countries. Divide the class into pairs, and allocate a country to each pair. Ask the pairs to research the country and find evidence of superstitions through folk tales or cultural beliefs. For example, Halloween is a cultural/religious festival that is practiced universally and is based on medieval superstitious beliefs.

Ask the class to suggest other festivals/celebrations still practiced today and how they replicate/adapt the superstitions of the past, e.g. Christmas – giving presents; Easter – hunting for eggs; birthday – candles on a cake, wedding – something old, something borrowed, something blue, etc. Introduce the subject of how beliefs and superstitions about animals were the origins of many celebrations we have today.

Suggested resources:

• History of Halloween
• Superstitions
• 20 Christmas Traditions Around the World That May Surprise You

In pairs, ask students to research information about the origins of a family/community celebration and explain any superstitious elements. Have the pairs make a small presentation to the class explaining the superstition/s and explain if the superstition/s is also held by other cultures.

As a class, examine some Aboriginal customs and/or Torres Strait Islander customs believed to bring ‘good luck’ or respect. Ask students to build a ‘Cultural Customs’ map to highlight the significant connection of these customs to the ancestral Dreaming or Bipo Bipo Tiam (Before Before Time). Have students find images of Aboriginal ceremonies to accompany their research. For example:

• the smoking ceremony – cleansing
• walkabout –rite of passage journey
• fire stick farming – sustainability
• not naming the dead – mark of respect
• not looking at images of a person who has passed away – respecting the spirit of the person

Instruct students about the custom of warning Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people about viewing images of people who have died. Find an example of the warning provided on film and television productions where images of Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islander people seen in the production may have passed away.

Suggested teacher support resources:

• Cultural Protocols relating to deaths in Indigenous communities
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols 
• Wathaurong people
• People, place, language and song
• Magpies have chortled since the very first dawn (Noongar culture)